Inside CDL

CDLINFO LISTSERV, December 13, 2001, Vol.4, No. 22

CONTENTS

  1. CDL Database Transitions
    1. Reminder - Access to OCLC Database Changing
    2. Reminder - MEDLINE/HealthSTAR Retiring - PubMed is Enhanced
    3. TSC Recommendation
    4. Updated Library Staff Briefing Sheet
  2. New Resources Available
    1. Current Protocols (Jeff Williams, UCSD)
    2. Encyclopedia Britannica
    3. Anthropological Index, Royal Anthropological Institute
  3. Silverlinker
  4. For More Information
    1. CDL News
    2. Contacts for Questions or Problems
    3. Information about CDLINFO

1. CDL Database Transitions

a. Reminder - Access to OCLC Database Changing

WorldCat (WCAT), PapersFirst (PAPR) and ProceedingsFirst (PROC) will be available ONLY in OCLC's web interface (native mode) and no longer available via Z39.50 in the CDL-hosted databases interface. This change is earlier than originally scheduled, due to significant changes made by OCLC, which are explained more fully in an earlier edition of CDLINFO (http://www.cdlib.org/news/cdlinfo/cdlinfo062801.html#1).

OCLC databases that will change on December 13, 2001 are:
WorldCat (WCAT) (web and telnet)
PapersFirst (PAPR) (telnet)
ProceedingsFirst (PROC) (telnet)

b. Reminder - MEDLINE/HealthSTAR Retiring - PubMed is Enhanced

The UC-tailored version of PubMed is now the major version of UC's access to the information previously provided in the CDL-hosted version of MEDLINE. A list of guides created by the MEDLINE Transition Team is available at: http://www.cdlib.org/guides/pubmed/.

CDL-hosted MEDLINE/HealthSTAR will be discontinued December 21, 2001 due to major changes in the database structure and the additional services offered by the National Library of Medicine's PubMed. Unique additional features available in PubMed include:

  • Links to databases of proteins, genomes, structures and nucleotides.
  • Access to preMEDLINE (most recent) citations.
  • Ability to search all dates covered by MEDLINE without needing to select a date range.
  • Sophisticated search algorithms that direct users to "related articles."
  • Mapping from UMLS and implied phrase searching.
  • Filters to facilitate clinical queries.
  • Addition of material in other formats (e.g. books) and from other branches of the life sciences.
  • Direct links to other NLM sources of medical information such as Clinical Trials, Clinical Alerts, and Medlineplus.
  • Links to PubMed Central publications.

Additionally, the CDL is working on these enhancements for the UC-version of PubMed:

  • Links to UC print holdings
  • Links to CDL Request
  • Links to UC electronic holdings
  • Automated features of CDL Update (PubMed supports saving searches, but it requires users to store searches in their "Cubby" and update searches by accessing the cubby)

Access to PubMed:

1. Go to the More databases menu on the CDL-hosted Databases page http://www.dbs.cdlib.org/ and select PubMed, follow the directions.

2. Go to the CDL Collections and Services page http://www.cdlib.org/collections/, go to Other Databases (the second pull-down menu) and select PubMed, press "go", then follow the directions.

More information about this, and other journal database transitions, is available: http://www.cdlib.org/news/cdlhosteddatabases.html

c. TSC Recommendation
The Transition Steering Committee (TSC) recommended at its meeting on December 3 that the new versions of the transitioning A & I databases not be publicly released until links for holdings, full text and Request are in place, reasonably complete, and running smoothly. There may still be a transitional period during which we will be working on refinements (similar to the follow up activities that we undertook for the linking services in the CDL-hosted databases). This recommendation will most immediately have an impact on the release of OVID (BIOSIS, Current Contents, Ei Compendex, INSPEC, and MLA) and CSA databases (PAIS, PsycINFO).

Assuming that Request can be activated for the Ovid databases in the near future, and issues relating to campus library profiles for CSA are resolved, all databases (except BIOSIS) should be ready in January. (When SFX via CSA is in place, it will override campus links to full text with CDL-licensed titles; TSC will investigate how much impact this will have.)

Among the OVID databases, priority will be given to MLA, even though its links are problematic due to the quality of the data in MLA's database. MLA via SilverPlatter will be retired on February 28, 2002.

BIOSIS' release will be delayed because Ovid is planning a reload of the data in early 2002. Resource Liaison Beth Weil will evaluate its readiness once the reload can be tested.

Exact dates of public versions of the databases will be reported in CDLINFO and via the Detailed Status of the Journal Article Databases Transition chart: http://www.cdlib.org/news/databasestatus.html.

d. Updated Library Staff Briefing Sheet

Updated information about the CDL Database Transitions is now available from the CDL Libstaff Outreach Materials page at: http://www.cdlib.org/inside/instruct/UCLibrary_Staff_briefing_sheet.rtf . The document informs staff about changes in access to various CDL-hosted databases. The information is in rtf format so it can be adapted for use in campus library publications.

The vendors that were selected for each of the databases are listed. Ovid is the only vendor that is new to the UC/CDL community.


2. New Resources Available

A list of recently added content is always available at < http://www.cdlib.org/news/whatsnew.html >

d. Current Protocols (Jeff Williams, UCSD)
Current Protocols, the widely-used series of laboratory manuals published by Wiley is now available on the Web. All campuses, with the exception of Santa Cruz, are participating in this Tier 2 Agreement.

The following titles are available:

Current Protocols in Cell Biology
Current Protocols in Cytometry
Current Protocols in Human Genetics
Current Protocols in Immunology
Current Protocols in Molecular Biology
Current Protocols in Neuroscience
Current Protocols in Nucleic Acid Chemistry
Current Protocols in Pharmacology
Current Protocols in Protein Science
Current Protocols in Toxicology

The following Current Protocols titles are not available electronically:

Current Protocols in Field Analytical Chemistry
Current Protocols in Food Analytical Chemistry
Current Protocols in Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Current Protocols in Methods in Materials Research

The CDL will consider licensing the additional titles when they become available. Each title is available through the CDL Directory, or you may browse the titles at this URL: http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/reference.html

If you have any questions of concerns, please contact the CDL Resource Liaison for Wiley, Jeff Williams: j12williams@ucsd.edu.

b. Encyclopedia Britannica

Earlier this year Encyclopedia Britannica announced that it would no longer offer the full-content of Encyclopedia Britannica on its free consumer oriented website.

The CDL has facilitated UC campus Tier 2 subscriptions to the Encyclopedia Britannica Online [http://www.uclibs.org/PID/12593] through the California State University consortial license. Eight UC campuses subscribed (Riverside declined) and the CDL will handle recharges, renewals, and IP address maintenance.

Britannica Online includes the complete Encyclopedia Britannica multi-volume set (first published in 1768), as well as Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary and the Britannica Book of the Year. Britannica Online can also be used to search an Internet directory that includes more than 130,000 links to Web sites selected, rated, and reviewed by Britannica editors. Through this service, you can find more than 72,000 articles, updated and revised by EB editors and contributors; over 10,000 illustrations, including photographs, drawings, maps, and flags; and more than 75,000 definitions including pronunciation guides and word histories from Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary.

c. Anthropological Index, Royal Anthropological Institute

RLG has added a new resource to the Citadel database suite -- the Anthropological Index, Royal Anthropological Institute -- that is open to all UC campuses by virtue of the CDL subscription to RLG base package resources.

Anthropological Index, Royal Anthropological Institute is an essential periodical index for the fields of physical anthropology, archaeology, cultural ethnography, and linguistics. This new Citation Resources (CitaDel®) database from RLG draws on the collections of the de facto national anthropology library of Britain.

Anthropological Index entries are compiled from over 900 journals in the Library of the British Museum Department of Ethnography -- now known as the Anthropology Library -- which incorporates the former Royal Anthropological Institute library. Remarkably broad geographic coverage emphasizes the Commonwealth and Africa and extends to Eastern Europe, the Americas, Asia, Australasia, and the Pacific, including both standard journals and many titles outside the mainstream. The Anthropology Library's ability to provide photocopies of articles cited is particularly valuable for journals not housed in US collections.

Additional information is available at: http://www.rlg.org/cit-rai.html.

See also a recent article about Anthropological Index that appeared in RLG Focus: http://www.rlg.org/r-focus/i51.html#index.


3. SilverLinker

With the transitions of the MLA Bibliography and Compendex Plus databases from SilverPlatter to Ovid, the CDL no longer licenses databases on a system-wide basis on the SilverPlatter platform. However, the CDL has renewed the license to SilverLinker for UC campuses to use with their subscriptions to SilverPlatter (SP) databases.

SilverLinker enables direct access from SilverPlatter's bibliographic citation databases to electronic journals and also to holdings information from the California Periodicals Database. As a service to the campuses, the CDL will continue to support the SilverLinker subscription as long as there are a substantial number of campus database subscriptions on SP's platform.

Learn more about SilverLinker at: http://www.silverplatter.com/silverlinker/ .


4. For More Information

a. CDL News
Several items of interest, including "Milestones," "Progress Reports," "What's New," and previous issues of CDLINFO are posted on the CDL web site (http://www.cdlib.org/) under News and Developments. Please share news of this resource with your colleagues!

Remember also that reports, working documents, and status information of particular interest to library staff, are all available at http://www.cdlib.org/libstaff/.

b. Contacts for Questions or Problems
If you have problems accessing or using the system or have questions, including questions about the status of electronic journal collections and Internet resources, you can contact CDL staff in one of the following ways:
  • For immediate assistance, call the CDL Helpline at (510) 987-0555. Callers with TDD equipment, please call 1-800-735-2929 in California for the telephone relay operator.
  • Send an e-mail message to cdl@www.cdlib.org.
  • Click on "News" at http://www.dbs.cdlib.org/ (also known as http://www.melvyl.ucop.edu) for information about system outages, problems with particular databases, the status of a resource, etc.

For information about whether your UC campus has access to a particular electronic journal or Internet resource, contact your local collection development officer.

c. Information about CDLINFO

CDLINFO is designed to inform UC Librarians, and the UC community, about the progress of the CDL, policy issues under discussion, and newly available electronic resources. We hope that subscribers from the UC libraries will pass on selected information from the newsletter to faculty, staff, and students on their campuses, as appropriate. More complete information about the CDL, as well as the Directory of Collections and Services which leads to digital resources, is available at the CDL website at http://www.cdlib.org.

Eligible subscribers: UC library employees

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